roses (this is how it ends)
by Someone aka Me
Summary: Astoria and Draco: how they come together and how they fall apart.


Assignment 11: Notable Witches Task 8. Write about unrequited love.

* * *

He brings her roses. That's how she knows something is wrong.

They're a bright cinnamon red and they smell sweet and fresh.

He gives her roses, and then he scorches the earth between them, salts it so that nothing can ever grow again, and then walks away.

In the end, Astoria can't say she's surprised. Only heartbroken. Only disappointed.

…

It starts in spring.

It starts with the outstretched hand of a desperate Lucius Malfoy, looking for a match worthy of his son.

It starts with Draco and Astoria saying yes.

…

It becomes something more for Astoria. She falls in love with him, because she's always fallen in love too easily, but this time it feels right because he is her betrothed, her intended, and who else is she supposed to fall in love with? He is charming and smooth but also kind, underneath all the bite and fire. He tells her she is beautiful in a way that makes her sure he _means_ it.

He tells her it takes guts to be as kind and gentle as she is and she wants to tell him that it shouldn't have to but she knows what his childhood was so instead she just says thank you and falls a little bit further in love.

…

It all falls apart in autumn. The leaves have faded from green through reds and oranges to a deadened brown. The air is crisp and it makes her think about her childhood, whistling through acorn caps and playing with conkers while the sun set earlier and earlier in the day. It makes her think of the massive harvest moon hanging low in the sky, casting bright moonlight across the leaf-strewn ground.

Astoria has always loved autumn.

Until the autumn he breaks her heart.

She thinks in retrospect that she should've seen it coming but instead she overlooked a lot of little things. She overlooked his distance. She overlooked the way he drew away from her, slowly but surely.

But then he comes to her with a cinnamon red rose and she looks at him and she knows, but she's going to make him say it anyway.

And he looks at her and for the first time he says the words "I love you." But then he follows them with the words, "But I'm not in love with you" and she feels her heart plummet, landing somewhere beneath their feet, crumpled and stepped on, staining the bottoms of her feet so red they look black.

She wants to cry. She wants to flee. She wants to crawl away from the stifling atmosphere inside this room and pretend it's all okay.

But it isn't. And she can't.

So instead she says, "Why?"

And he looks at her and he shakes his head and he says, "You aren't happy."

Her voice cracks as she says, "I _am_ happy, dammit."

"You think you are, but you aren't."

And now she's angry.

Now she's _furious_.

"Don't put this on me!" she says. "Don't make this about me when it isn't. It's about you. Merlin, I know you had a shit childhood. Don't let that lead you into a shit adulthood. You are capable of love no matter what your father says."

He tips his head and says, "I know I am… Just. Not with you."

She is falling apart.

She is crumbling.

This is how it feels to fall apart.

"Is there someone else?" she hears herself say.

She doesn't know what answer she wants.

He shakes his head. "Not right now. But… There's someone I think I could. Fall for. And it's made me realize." He takes a deep, bracing breath in preparation, orders his words, and speaks with the kind of conviction that could raise armies.

"We fought a whole war over this and here we are allowing ourselves to make the same mistakes. I can't marry someone I don't love for the sake of blood purity I'm not even sure I believe in any more. Not when I've seen what it costs to hold on to that conviction."

He makes it sound so simple.

"Why are we doing this, Astoria? It's because we have no other choice. Because we were _given_ no other choice. But that's not the truth. The truth is… The truth is that I don't love you. And I can't marry you if I don't love you."

Her breath is caught in her throat.

She knew he didn't love her, but she thought he could. Eventually.

Apparently she was wrong.

He turns and walks away. She drops the rose.

It falls into the shattered pieces of her heart.

* * *

Writing Month: 772

Dragons: 772

Seasonal: Days of the Year: Red Rose Day: Write about someone being gifted with red roses.

Summer Prompts: (word) Stifling

Colour Prompts: Cinnamon

Birthstones: Ruby - (dialogue) "It takes guts to be as gentle and kind as you are."

Flowers:Foxglove - (word) Heart

Element: (word) Scorch

Shay's Musical Challenge: The Great Comet of 1812 - write about someone falling in love with someone who they shouldn't be in love with.

Star Chart: Total Lunar Eclipse - (scenario) Resolving a conflict

World Cup: Switzerland vs. Serbia (22 june): Character: Astoria

Character App: 13. (character) Astoria Greengrass (5 bonus for Draco) / Disney: C1: Anna - Write about someone falling in love too easily. / Book Club: Dante: (word) heart - (colour) black - (object) rose / Showtime: 7. The History of Wrong Guys - (plot point) falling for someone you can't have / Amber's Attic: 12. Burn It Down: Write about two people having a falling out. / Buttons: D3: "It's because we have no other choice." / Lyric Alley: 8. To let the sparks die out / AAA: 11. 5.0 It's really good. Fact. — Write about someone loving something/someone. / Em's Emporium: P1: Draco Malfoy/Astoria Greengrass: Write about hitting rock bottom. / Lo's Lowdown:C7: Christine Chapel — (word) overlooked.

Gobstones: Green Stone - Separation A: (dialogue) "I am happy, dammit." : P: (dialogue) "You had a shit childhood. Don't let that lead you into a shit adulthood." T: (word) simple

Faerie Day: Autumn Fairy: Leaves; Brown; Green; Autumn; Conkers; Preparation; Early; Moonlight; Harvest; Acorn

Film Festival: 40. Dialogue: "I love you, but I'm not in love with you"

Insane House: Character - Draco Malfoy


End file.
